Rain

We had beautiful warm weather the whole week, so we decided to have a bbq last night....it rained! Fortunately it cleared up again so we had the bbq after all.

Today we celebrated my father's birthday (delayed) and my sister-in-law's birthday (actual day) and halfway through the afternoon a huge thunderstorm hit us. Again it cleared and we could spend the rest of the afternoon outside.

                                                                Impressive Rain Clouds

Stones

Yesterday we went to De Panoven in Zevenaar to celebrate my aunt's 65th birthday. De Panoven is an old brick factory. We had a tour around the factory and the oven and we all made a stone from clay. It was great fun to have a day out together.

                                                                 The oven to bake the stones

                                                                           Inside the oven

                                                               Lots of old machines and parts

                                                           Making stones and decorating them

                                                              Going for a walk on the train track

                                                                        Beautiful nature


Thanks Mieke, for a lovely day with the Hettinga family!

Family

One of the main reasons to stay in The Netherlands for most of our holidays is to spend time with our families. Quality time, like we had yesterday.

We were all at my sister's house to celebrate multiple birthdays. I loved seeing all cousins having fun together and seeing my parents enjoy their 7 grandchildren.. The eldest one is 16, the youngest is 3. Precious moments!

                                                            All cousins with grandma

Holidays

The boys and I are in the Netherlands for our summer holidays. So far we have had a very relaxed time, I think my boys have been in their pj's for most of it (they only got dressed when the grand parents came to visit).
We are enjoying the food, the clean air and seeing family and friends.

One more week till Adriaan will join us for a month. :-)

Awarded!

At the beginning of last week I received an email from school:

 

 

Good Morning,

 

You have helped  build our CIS community this year.  You have volunteered your time in our classrooms and around the campus to make the learning experience more enjoyable and more engaging for all.

 

Thank-you!

 

CIS invites you to attend the Secondary Term 3 Assembly on Friday morning at 8:30am. We will be presenting certificates of appreciation to all volunteering parents and you will get to walk the stage.  If you do not attend this ceremony, please do stop by the CIS administration office before leaving school on Friday to pick up your certificate.

 

Thanks again and we hope to see you active on the CIS campus again in August!

 

 

 

Unfortunately I couldn't make it, so the boys brought home my certificate:

 

 

 

 

 I knew the boys are in a great school, but this is the icing on the cake!

This is a certificate of appreciation for being a busy body, for being in their face about things I thought weren't right or optimal (i.e. things I would have done/organised a lot better, being the 'know-it-all' mum of 3).
This school appreciates comments and suggestions for what they are meant to be: helpful.

There haven't been that many instances over the school year that made me contact the school to voice my concerns, but the few times I did I really felt I had a contribution to make, not just a complaint.

Experiences in other schools, specifically in Libya, have shown that school management is not always open to suggestions or criticism. It can cause a negative spiral, in school management making it even more difficult for you or your children. Very frustrating I can tell you.

The Canadian International School appreciated my concerns, comments and suggestions and translated them into "creativity, commitment and engagement", something that proofs to me that the people who run this school are wonderful people with an open mind.

So if you are planning to move to Bangalore, I know a great school to send your children to!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dutch Tradition

This photo is from my friend Marjolein, her daughter passed her exams

(Congratulations Marit!)

In the Netherlands we have the tradition to hang out the flag when your child has passed his/her exams. We hang their school bag from the flag post too. Yesterday the results came in and the flags are out.

Joshua has done his IGCSEs, but he won't know till August whether he passed or not (pretty sure he passed). I hope we will hear the result before we leave the Netherlands at the end of our summer break, because I would love to hang the flag out for him. It are the little traditions like this that I miss living abroad.
In case we don't know the results before we leave NL, I will make sure to fly the Dutch flag from our house in Bangalore (most of my neighbours probably already think we are weird people anyway).

Today is the last school day. Only 2 more sleeps to go before we leave for 2 months holiday in NL.






 

Colours

Some more photos from last week. I felt like colourful photos today. Adriaan left for NL last night and since he is flying back to Bangalore at the same time as the boys and I are flying out, we won't see each other for 3 weeks. So my lack of sleep, lack of husband and the cloudy day make me want to put up some bright colours to keep me from feeling down.

Ghee Diyas and other offerings for pooja

                                                                     Fresh Vegetables

                                                Spices and pasta in all colours of the rainbow

                                                                        Guavas for sale

                                            Lotus flowers among other flowers for pooja

                                                                    It is Mango season!